Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has instructed all the state polytechnic institutions, ITI institutes and other training institutes not to admit students with a compartment from the next academic year. The court has termed such students as ‘failed’.

The bench of Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Sanjay Karol objected to students with compartment in a subject being treated equally to the pass students and said, “There must not be any category between pass and fail.” The court has ordered all the academic institutions to be dealt with strictly if they provide admissions to failed and compartment students in academic year 2012-13.

Standing firm on its decision, the court said, “If any private institute is found to be admitting such students, its recognition will be cancelled then and there”.

Warning the disobedience of the court’s aforesaid decision to be considered as contempt of the court, the bench said, “In order to improve the standard of education, no category should be considered equal to the pass students.”

It may be noted here that the students who do not attain the minimum marks in X standard and 10+2 exams, are allowed three chances to clear the subject and are admitted for the next academic session on provisional basis.

The court issued the directive considering seriousness of the case and cautioned the private institutes carrying out disorganized admissions. The court explained, “The student with a compartment can pass the exams of the concerned subject in the next academic session.”

However, the final decision will rest with the education board in this regard. Meanwhile, the compartment students will be required to clear the related subject by next academic year to continue his/her studies, the court added.